Tag Archives: Electric Bike

Joey Ruiter is a designer. As people are bound to do sometimes, Joey’s designs can wander into the artistic, where form takes precedence over function in sometimes elaborate efforts at crafting a message or a vision. What he’s done with this project, called Moto Undone, is to strip down what makes a motorcycle to its bare essentials. In his own words:

[We wanted to] re-set the definition of a motorbike by stripping away historical attributes that make them so great. It’s hard to image a motorcycle without fancy paint, overpowered motors, exposed mechanical genius, and sweet exhaust tones. Moto Undone is pure generic transportation and by motorbike category definition it isn’t very cool. The motorbike references are small and when someone is riding, they are all you see. The bike almost disappears. The rider just floats along the streets silently.

Silently because the motorcycle is powered by a 1000w 48v electric hub motor. Moto Undone has a range of 90 miles or about 3 hours. All gauges and riding information, like speed and gps, is displayed through a smart phone.

Sadly the motorcycle doesn’t appear to be for sale. It was on display at the Gran Rapids Art Museum recently. Would you want to buy it, though? Doesn’t look all that comfortable…

Electric bikes are nothing new, but this Copenhagen Wheel is one of the coolest ideas I’ve seen along those lines. Whenever you are breaking, the wheel will begin to charge up an internal battery. Then, when you’re trying to pedal up a hill, it will sense this and kick in its motor to help you on your way. It can also be used to increase your speed when traveling over a flat surface. This isn’t the sort of electric bike that lets you rest your legs, but rather increases the bike’s speed while you’re pedaling.

A bonus feature is that the wheel is iPhone compatible. Yes, that sounds absolutely absurd, but it does do something rather useful. It connects to your phone via Bluetooth and records trip information such as speed, direction and distance traveled. It can even pull information from the web to alert you of traffic and weather conditions. Look for this awesome wheel sometime next year for between $500 and $1000.

After posting news of the Enicycle a few days ago, here comes another personal transportation device that purports to solve the issue of urban mobility. It’s called the YikeBike and is essentially a folding electric bicycle with a design reminiscent of the high wheelers of old (also known as Penny-Farthings). It’s powered by a 1 kW battery and can accelerate up to 20 kph (about 12 mph) with a range of 7 to 8 km (or about 5 miles) on a 30 minute charge. Made from carbon fiber, it weighs in just under 22lbs and with practice can be folded up and stashed in a bag in about 15 seconds.

There are working pre-production models and the first 100 orders should be delivered in “early to mid 2010”. But at €3,500-€3,900 (~ $5,500), you might as well get a Segway.

Hit the jump for a few videos of the YikeBike in action and a gallery.

Whether you live in a big city and simply don’t have the space or inclination to own a car, or you’re simply looking for alternative transportation that doesn’t pollute the environment — walking or biking are probably high on your list of ways to get around. However, there’s always going to be some point when you don’t feel like walking and you don’t feel like pedaling a bike around. For these times, you need something like the new A2B Electric Bike by Ultra Motor.

I’ll say right off the bat that the bike is odd looking to my eyes. It uses mountain bike style suspension and upright riding position with an oversized seat for comfort. A small tray that sticks out from behind the bike, under the seat, and can be used for stowing computers or other items that are small. The bike has pedals that can be used if it runs out of battery power or to increase the cruise speed, but the pedals are not needed for normal operation.

OhGizmo! is a frequently updated blog that focuses on covering items that will appeal to a very specific and often very passionate audience: the geek. Aside from the fare of innovative consumer electronic products, the reader can expect to find news about geek culture, absurd inventions, awe inspiring technology, and an ever growing assortment of articles that we like to think fit within our view of what we’re calling the Geek Lifestyle.